


Hot to the Touch, Cold on the Inside

by Ninja_Librarian



Series: Voltron Whump Week 2017 [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Day 2: Hypothermia, Established Relationship, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, No Season 3 Spoilers, OC (Galra) Character Death, Shiro and Pidge's ages not canon, Voltron Whump Week 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 07:11:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11801037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninja_Librarian/pseuds/Ninja_Librarian
Summary: They've got us surrounded; we're in their sightsBut they're not taking us aliveHot to the touch, cold on the insideBut they're not taking us aliveDay 2: HypothermiaA routine mission goes wrong, gets worse, then is a success. An Emergency Cuddle session follows.





	Hot to the Touch, Cold on the Inside

The novelty of a planet covered in snow and ice had quickly worn off. The terrain quickly turned from Santa’s Workshop in the North Pole to Hoth way too fast for Pidge’s liking. The stealth mission of course went wrong. The stealth mission that was supposed to be easy before they knew that a Druid would be there, before that Druid lashed out at Keith’s hiding spot, nearly blasting him across the hanger.

The next few minutes were a blur. The small transport starting, Shiro yelling at Pidge and Lance to go after it, Keith shakily getting up, the drones that Hunk started taking down.

She was scrambling across the ice after the transport along with Lance, the Blue Paladin returning the fire that was coming at them.

They had to get those plans.

Those plans for a new weapon of mass destruction.

The plans that included details about which prisoners from which labor camps they were going to use to build it.

The plans that maybe, just maybe, could lead her to Dad and Matt.

Pidge shot her bayard out, the point digging into the transport. She stopped running and let her feet slide along the ice, slowly retracting the bayard to fly faster across the ice, letting Lance simply cover her from a greater distance. One of the Galra on board tried to get it out only to get a shock for the efforts, tumbling out and onto the ice.

Her eyes widened as the soldier broke through the ice. “Lance, thin ice!” Pidge screamed in warning.

She tried to retract her bayard, to dig her feet into the layer of snow along the ice. Her bayard would not retract, the point would not come out.

 _No, no, no!_ Pidge thought as she was quickly approaching the hole in the ice. She quickly commanded her helmet to put up the mouthpiece before she sunk into the water.

“PIDGE!” Lance’s voice screamed in her ear via the comms. “Shiro, we need back up, now!”

Pidge grit her teeth as she kept a grip on her bayard, sinking deeper and deeper into the water. She screamed as a hand wrapped around her ankle, eyes wide at seeing the Galra soldier yanking her down, pulling himself up in the water. She had the advantage of having oxygen, though, and she kicked at him as hard as she could, fighting and struggling in the water even as her joints and muscles started to tense up. The cold was seeping through her armor; Coran warned that the temperatures of the water could get beyond what the suit could handle. She had to keep moving…

She landed a kick on the Galra’s forehead, and the grip on her ankle slackened. She watched as the Galra—apparently out of air—sank towards the bottom of the frozen lake. She turned back towards the surface, trying to swim up. Her eyes widened as the transport broke through the ice, coming crashing towards her. She scrambled to get out of the way, her muscles struggling to move and stretch.

Her brain—her ever calculating brain—told her hypothermia was setting in.

Fortunately, her bayard retracted, the ice having dented the metal so that the point was loosened.

She saw something, the disc with the plans, stuck inside the transport control panel, abandoned by the Galra.

Though her teammates were screaming through her comms—Shiro was begging her to come to the surface, his voice shaking the way it always did when she did something dangerous—she dove.

Down, down, down, deeper…

Her hands were shaking in the water as she wrapped her fingers around the device. Her fingers clamped down, holding it tightly.

She was so cold…

She felt her eyes sliding shut, her hand tight around the device.

Falling, sinking…

“Pidge? PIDGE! KATIE!”

Shiro’s voice… Shiro’s warm voice… Soft voice… Whispering in her ear…

Warmth…

Protection…

She opened her eyes briefly.

Something was coming, she could feel it…

Something green with glowing yellow eyes…

Something metal…

Something opening its maw, scooping her inside into warmth…

The Green Lion.

Pidge smiled from where she lay on the floor of the cockpit, shivering.

“Th-thanks, g-girl…” She whispered.

Her eyes slid shut.

“Katie? Katie, come on, wake up!”

Pidge opened her eyes again. There was warmth all around her… She was still in Green’s cockpit, but no longer on the floor. Her helmet was off. Shiro was there, holding her tight…

“Hey,” She groaned weakly.

“Your lips are blue,” Shiro responded. 

“K-kiss ‘em an’ they w-won’ be for l-long…” Pidge slurred out. Shiro smiled softly and obliged, pressing his warm lips to her cold ones.

He chuckled slightly as he pulled away, gently brushing back her hair. “No offense, Pidge, but that was like kissing a vampire…”

“A-am I a s-sexy v-vampire?” Pidge asked, still shivering.

Shiro laughed and kissed her again. “Very sexy.” He informed her. He stood up, her in his arms. She leaned against his chest, shivering and shuddering. She felt herself being transferred into someone else’s arms—she made a squawk of disapproval, she was just getting comfortable!—and a large towel was wrapped around her.

“S-shiro…” She groaned.

“It’s alright, Number Five, I’ve got you.” Coran said. “The Princess and I are going to get you out of your armor. Shiro’s going to do the same; I imagine it’s going to be a lot more comfortable for you both once that happens.”

“Coran…” She moaned, shakily lifting her hand. She grinned as his eyes widened, recognizing what she had. “I got it.”

She conked out, then and there, against his chest.

She was reawakened a short time later as Coran sat her on the edge of… Something… Something soft… Bed? Couch? Chair? She wasn’t sure… She just wanted to sleep.

“It’s alright,” Allura said soothingly, tugging off Pidge’s armor. “We’re going to get you warmed up, I promise.”

Pidge faded in and out of consciousness as Allura and Coran removed her armor, stripping her out of the wet under-suit. Coran disappeared to find a blanket and fresh clothes as Allura helped Pidge remove her underwear and bra. Coran pointedly looked away with his eyes shut when he returned, crashing face-first into a healing pod as he did so. Allura helped Pidge into the dry underwear and long, soft, fuzzy nightgown before wrapping the blanket around Pidge, then picked her up bridal style.

“Where we goin’?” Pidge slurred out, brain mushy.

“Hunk has declared that you are in need of ‘Emergency Cuddles’, which the rest of the Paladins are in agreement with,” Allura explained. “We’re going to get you warm again.”

Pidge opened her eyes again in a room she hadn’t seen before, but it had the biggest quiznaking bed she had ever seen, and practically every blanket in the Castle.

She smiled at seeing the guys there, waiting anxiously for her arrival, all dressed in warm and dry pajamas.

“Hey,” She said, slurring the word, dragging out the ‘ey’, giving them a feeble wave.

“You scared, like, a gazillion years off our lives, Pidge,” Lance said from where he sat at the foot of the bed.

“So’ry…” Pidge said as Allura transferred Pidge into Shiro’s arms. He pressed a kiss to her hair, carrying her over to the bed. He laid her carefully on her side, then laid against her, pressing his chest against her back. She grinned. “Oooh, spooning… I like spooning… Like it other way ‘round, though… You be lil spoon, I be big spoon…”

“Well, you’re little spoon today,” Shiro said, sticking out his right arm above her. She watched it flash purple then fade back to silver; Hunk quickly wrapped Shiro’s arm in a towel, and Shiro lowered his arm, wrapping it around Pidge so that his forearm was pressed against her chest. She gave a small moan, wrapping her arms around his warm arm. The bed shifted beneath her, and more warmth was pressed to her front, a large hand placed on her thigh, gently rubbing it. She smiled, nuzzling her cold face into Hunk’s warm chest.

Her body vibrated from Hunk’s laugh, her body pressed so close to his torso. It was a good sound, a good feeling.

“You alright there, Pidge?” Hunk asked.

“Mmmhmmm…” Pidge mumbled.

Blankets were thrown over the three of them.

“Is this enough?” Allura asked worriedly. “I can find more…”

“It’s perfect, Allura, thank you.” Shiro said, bringing up one blanket to better cover Pidge’s shoulder.

“I’ll go fetch the extra heating pads,” Allura said. “Be back in a tick…”

Pidge hadn’t realized how cold and numb her feet were until they started tingling with blood flow again, and she felt fingers against her feet, Keith’s calloused fingers against one foot and Lance’s smooth hands against the other foot.

She moaned.

It felt amazing.

The bitter, biting cold that had started settling inside of her was melting at the warm touch of three of her best friends in the entire universe and her wonderful boyfriend…

She felt Shiro’s lips press against the shell of her ear.

“Rest. You worked hard today. And I know you want to get to that data as soon as possible, but for now you need to rest. Coran said he’d bring you some tea in a few minutes, so don’t fall asleep just yet.”

And Pidge did rest. It was perhaps the best rest she had ever gotten in her life. When she woke up the following morning to Hunk’s snores, she pushed herself up slightly and looked around. Shiro and Hunk were both still wrapped around her. Lance had used Hunk’s legs as a pillow while Keith was curled up into a ball around Pidge’s sock-covered foot, as if determined to protect the foot from any further cold. Coran, sitting up against the headboard, head ducked forward, arms over his chest, snoring slightly. Allura’s head resting in Coran’s lap, the mice sleeping on her spread out hair, her hand resting in Pidge’s hair.

Pidge smiled and snuggled back into the warmth.

They could all rest a bit more.

Who knew when they would get the chance again?


End file.
